Finally, here's a shot from MJF's appearance on tonight;s LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. This is pretty awesome - and puts a lump in my throat, all things considered.

I fully support...so genuinely..Fox's efforts in this cause. Alas, the auction nature of eBay will likely escalate the costs of these shoes beyond most Geek's ability to afford them...almost certainly beyond my own capacity. But a hearty "rock on!" to those who manage to snag a pair, and more power to Michael J. Fox as well. Best of luck to all with this way cool undertaking...

To Geeks like us, the immediate implications of this patent were obvious...Nike should make some self-lacing, lighty-uppy Marty McFly shoes.

However, in the entertainment/product industries, such cross-connects aren't always fully realized - and more often than not don't come about at all. Thus, the notion of McFly/BTTF2 shoes remained a shameful and frivolous little hope, tucked away in that dark, lonely chamber of our inner-most dorkitude - where yearnings for things like TARDISes, teleportation devices, easy-to-use jetpacks, and super-sexy-servant-cyborgs remain perpetually unfulfilled.

Well, perhaps it's time to haul our dreams of McFly shoes into the light at long last. Yesterday on his Twitter stream, BTTF producer Frank Marshall teased that "something big is coming soon," then...a few hours later...launched a second tweet calling followers' attention this this video:

THIS article at NiceKicks pointedly reinforces Nike's BACK TO THE FUTURE intentions, offering pictures of the metal glasses that were included with a private invitation to an event/reveal planned for occur tonight. Interestingly, and almost certainly not coincidentally, Michael J. Fox is scheduled to appear on David Letterman this evening as well.

All of this via a BTTF.com, NiceKicks, AICN readers Giacomo and Alexander, and ComingSoon.

Last night, my pre-bedtime conversation with my significant other went pretty-much like this:

ME: Do you remember BACK TO THE FUTURE II?

HER: Sorta.

ME: It's the future one.

HER: Yeah. The skateboards.

ME: Yes. Do you remember Michael J. Fox's shoes in that movie?

HER: No.

ME: They lit-up. And self-laced.

The weight in her voice is palpable.

HER(a bit more abruptly now): OK.

ME: Nike's making them for real. I think.

I show her the video.

HER (still dispassionate): OK.

ME: Would you still love me if I wore self-lacing BACK TO THE FUTURE shoes that lit-up?

HER: You could wear them to bed and we could fuck like bunnies.

ME (awesome!): Really!?

HER: No.

ME: OK, so what about wearing them elsewhere?

As unconvincing as anyone could possibly be. In a detached, snarky church-lady sorta way...

HER: Of course. That would be fine.

At that point I figured it might be best to let her sleep on it for a while, and try again when we woke up this morning. Certainly, some rest and a nice breakfast would clear her head and re-ignite her undoubtedly fond memories of BACK TO THE FUTURE II and its lighty-uppy self-lacing shoes.

At breakfast, I tried again...

ME: So about those shoes...would you still love me if I wore them?

HER: We talked about that already.

And that was it. Nothing else.

So...

The woman, or the self-lacing, lighty-uppy BACK TO THE FUTURE Marty McFly shoes?

'Tis a difficult choice to be sure, but in the end the choice is really quite simple and obvious, albeit painful. And, after all, whatever happens is my density. As soon as the shoes become available for pre-order, I'll update this piece with more information - dutifully telling AICN readers how, and where, and when these amazing shoes can be found so that everyone can get their orders in as quickly as possible.

I agree that the self-fitting/drying coat is cooler..and the shoes were always ugly, even if they self-laced....but yes I would still buy them
just never wear them and place them in a glass box next to my Back to the Future Blurays and my DeLorean replicas

I'm also not a nerd since I don't blindly fawn over everything that has to do with genre films.
The irony is sweet though. " you don't think self lacing sneakers from a sci-fi movie are cool?? NERD!"
Now if this was the hoverboard, yeah that'd be cool.

Get the joke. But seriously, get the Trainers. I've been waiting for these since I saw them as a tiny child who got my first skateboard after seeing the McFly skillz. I was just literally talking about these the other day. I have no idea why they popped into my head. It must be a premonition. I can see the future!

Remeber, i think they were nikes, that it had a disc that you turned to tighten the shoe. And who could forget the Pump sneakers. I think a lot of rich people will buy these sneakers cause they're obviously going to cost a lot.

No, you are wrong.
Those shoes WERE fucking cool in the film.
And you ARE pissing on something cool.
SO you deserve any shit heaped on you.
Would I wear them now? No. But that doesn't take away from the fact that they are fucking cool.
SO take your 'waste of resources" bullshit and go piss on something else. Twat.
And yes, it would also be awesome if they could produce a hoverboard.

If your significant other makes you choose between shoes you want and her, there's a problem.
My wife would want to know the price of them first (we make financial decisions together after discussing the matter) and then, if they were reasonable, she'd tell me to go ahead and order them...regardless of whether she liked them or not, understood the concept or not...and whether or not they'd be somehow embarrassing to her would never enter the equation. She'd want me to have them even if she thought they were ridiculous. Why? Because she loves ME. That love is non-conditional and it's a two lane street. Our love is not dictated by our pride, vanity or egos.
If you truly love someone, you'll want to do whatever makes them happy.

"Sorry you havent passed this time, unfortunately you hit 2 hover cones”<p>
Planes dont stay in the air these days.
BTW i've been told this by numerous people over the years<p>
"NEVER EVER get an internal flight in Russia"

...as soon as the accident happened right in front of him on the Twilight Zone movie, he turned around, drove off the set, and left the country. For several years. He was the legal link to Spielberg knowing about the kids on the set after legal hours, and as long as he couldn't be served papers to testify... well, you get the idea. No respect for Frank Marshall.

You can't do a cross over or a fade away jumper in them.
They will only last a month before the lacing rig fucks up or the lights shit out.
Fuck it though. I want to be the envy of the basement level IT guys.

I'm confused, is this your girlfriend or your Mom you're asking if you can get these shoes? Seriously, unless you have no money of your own, or no balls of your own, why the fuck are you asking permission? What a pussy.
I saw BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II opening night 1989 at the Westgate Theater in Beaverton, Oregon. Which is the city where Nike was founded and has their World Campus. That night there was a kid there that was wearing these shoes, his Dad was an executive at Nike and had given him a prototype pair to wear to the movie. As you can imagine, they caused quite the commotion in the line. Good times.
Nike generally sells their high end specialty shoes for close to $200. That's what the Air Jordan 17's that came in a metal case, and the original Nike Pumps with the separate pump and special plastic case cost. I would think these will sell for a similar price.

To the sneaker game. Nike has done the Marty McFly thing before, and they have openly talked about doing this since the movie was made, and hinted that they were close when they released the hyperdunks. Companies get the ideas from movies they are involved in a lot of times. I worked in marketing and R&D for a certain eyewear company who was approached to do a pair of sunglasses that had an earpiece for built in communications for Mi:2, this led to the idea to integrate MP3 players in sunglasses to bluetooth integrations to ultimately ipod integrations.

Worst thing is, I designed a set of sunglasses/headphones months before MI2 came out. Imagine my horror, browsing a record shop only to see a flyer for said product from said eyewear company. To say I was bitter would be putting it mildly.

I thought that when I was nine, and I still think that now. They tapped into something there. I know thirty people who i've nothing in common with anymore who will feel exactly the same. Not that us mortals will be able to afford them. But I don't care. I just like the fact that they're out there.

Two things that I find odd. Warners forced Spielberg's hand to finish his segment after the Morrow accident in 1982, and not too long after he started directing/producing many films for Warners (1984-1990) and kind of abandoned Universal (his first studio home) for a while (other than the occasional project like Amazing Stories). And then Landis ended up making more fa film for Warners (Spies Like Us comes to mind) ain 1985. Wouldn't you think Spielberg would want nothing to do with Warners after they preaty much forced him to go ahead and direct his TZ segment (which by many accounts he wanted the project shelved after the deaths of Morrow and the two children), and that Warners would never want to put out another film directed by Landis (which if I remember correctly Warners had to pay off Morrow's family and the families of the two children).

In that the sneakers they show in the film did look a bit shitty, if not downright lame. Kind of like a pair of slippers really.
But if Nike can make them and manage to not have them looking like an overglorified pair of slippers, I'd buy 'em. I don't know if I'd wear them, since I prefer boots, but I'd buy them anyway.

Collectors of the arcane and expensive all know there are two cardinal rules to manchild decadent shopping:
1) Things always 'cost' half as much as you spent. Never Ever Ever Ever tell her what you really paid. Because, somewhere in her head, she's gotten the idea that Your money is Her money, and she can think of 1,000 better ways for it to be spent than on a museum-quality prop replica.
Of course, even this rule rarely needs to be remembered, if you remember this one:
2) If you have A Lot Of Stuff, anything new is old. As long as she didn't SEE you bring it in, then it's been there forever. In a closet somewhere: HEY! Look what I found today!
Your junk doesn't matter enough to them to keep close track of it. I've spent over 5,000 bucks in high-end crap that she just accepts as being from the back of the coat closet.
~What's that?~
~Ooooh - that's a brown bess HGC Aliens Pulse Rifle Replica! Uh, I just found it in the back of the closet; it was always too big to put out before... I just thought I'd try it out here...~
~Uh. It's ugly.~
~Yeah. But it goes with the rugs...~

ainitcool buys a few and gives them to awesome people who make viewing this site and posting comments without being a namecaller and super immature a part of their daily routine and understand that a poor, out of work, college grad who can't get the police job he wants because of budget cuts just really wants to add this to his collection because he eats, sleeps, and breathes movies but can never afford the cool stuff collectors buy...
idk...a kid can dream....and my girlfriend says I can have them.

After reading the link by billyhitchcock, I can't get too excited for these shoes. Sure they will look like the ones from the movie, but no power laces? C'mon, that's why people are getting such a hard on for these things. I've seen fanmade shoes with power laces that make the idea seem likely, but not for another few years I guess.
Good cause though, but like Heston says in True Lies, "This is not blowing my skirt up. "

I'm really not lying, I live with my gf in Champaign IL as she goes to Med School which costs about $54,000/year...I can't get into a police department even though I do well on interviews, have a NIPSTA card, and get 95%'s on written tests, only because places just aren't hiring...right now I'm contemplating accepting a pt time security job for $10/hr just so I can start paying off some debt but my 4 year bachelor's degree in Law isn't really doing much for me and I can't afford to go to Law School....so I apply all day and watch/review movies, and research cars, electronics, gadgets, all so when someone asks my opinion I can give them the best possible answer and not have them buy something/watch something they'll have problems with...yup...
My shoe size is 14...just thought I'd throw that in there, even though I'd rather find out Michael J Fox's shoe size and get those so it would be as replica as possible when I display them....

As some have said, these things are gonna fetch more than many of us can afford.
I guess I'll just be content with my Sunstar DeLorean model, my Blu-Ray trilogy set, and my original DVD trilogy autographed by Robert Zemeckis and Christopher Lloyd.

Buy what you want, no matter how gay it seems like to the rest of the world.
And what's with these celebrities who catch something and immediately start a foundation for it? It just seems disingenuous.

Ernie Cline will need these to go with his delorean. Someday soon he'll likely also own the corpse of Christopher Lloyd. The only other shoes I've ever wanted to own are Haunted Mansion shoes. Harry's got those too.

I bought an AR-15 for 800.00 as an impulse buy at a gun show years ago and snuck it in the house while my wife was out. I slipped it into my old rifle case and acted like I had always owned it. Chicks only react if they SEE it coming in the door.

People can't drive in 2D. I'm not looking forward to it raining automobiles because some dumb cunt is texting. If flying cars do come out, it'll be something we wish we could un-invent like VX gas and Twitter.

have organizations buy these and then give them to their top performers...the businesses can afford them and would use them to make their own efforts to boost the efforts of their workforce...
either way it's much better than the rich stuck up kid living in a mansion complaining that the Kardasians have a show about them and his daddy hasn't bought one for him yet...

For some reason, I believed the shoe company wizards had devised a safe way of making this work without crushing someone's ankle bones.
What do I know? I also totally bought into the whole CNN hologram thing. I WANT TO BELIEVE!

...if these shoes are limited and being auctioned off, there's no way a "fan" like me could ever hope to participate in this event.
I would have loved paying a premium price for the shoes, knowing that the money is going to a good cause--and knowing that its supporting MJF in his efforts to raise money for that cause-- but this event is designed to keep me out. I've gladly taken pics with the car at shows, simply to support what's going on--so if you would say to me that I could be a part of it at any time by simply donating more money, I can tell you that I already have on more than a few accounts...and my budget really can't afford to, but it made me feel good to help and I feel a connection to the people involved because of the movies--
I really thought that the shoes were FINALLY a way of giving the fans something back-- not just the richest two or three hundred of them...and hey, if Im just misinformed and they actually plan to come out to the mass market, then I certainly take my words back, but the way I read it, fans like me are just getting left out in the cold on this one. --Im just saying, it would have been nice--

Maybe they will if it takes off, but come on you were a teen once... the "pay too much for athletic shoes" business caters to a really picky bunch. Hell all it takes is one celebrity to make fun of a model of shoe or to wear something in a video and your market tanks.
HOWEVER... 15000 pairs of shoes that count as movie memorabilia and ALL the proceeds are going to a charity founded by someone who is universally loved ( except by Rush Limbaugh as I recall... )
It will be a travesty if this doesn't raise $1M+

This century isn't working out the way I was led to expect. What's next - terminators that don't terminate? Soylent green that's actually made from soy and lentils? Off world colonies that are really on-world?

I was so excited after seeing this commercial last night. I dreamed about my future shoes and me. It was awesome. What was not awesome? Learning that these future shoes would be auctioned off to the wealthy nerds (or wealthy shoe collector guys). Learning they don't have power laces. Wonk. Nike, Frank Marshall, Michael J. Fox: why advertise to everyone just to make the majority of us sad we couldnever own these silly useless non-self-lacing shoes? Why remind us of something so awesome (that maybe we coveted at 8 years-old, and knew time travel wouldn't happen to us, but look at the fucking IPhone, our televisions, the internets.) Was it really too much to expect light-up power-laced shoes? It's as if Mattel made the same commercial and the next day decided that the Hoverboard would not actually hover, they instead would have lights and cost $10,000. Laaaaaame.
P.S. Girls like Back to the Future.

Cos that's the only way i will see a pair.
I know it's for a good cause but fuck this is so unfair i mean if they made each one into a fucking raffle then at least i would have had a chance at owning a pair.

is a horrible disease and even though the St. Jude's charity I give to is at least something, I really wish I was able to bid on these shoes for multiple reasons...while, yes, the shoes would look amazing in my room...being able to help get a step closer to finding the cause of the disease would be fantastic...I really do wish I had the money to contribute to those things

But he's also talked about how does it (not take the medication) because he doesn't want people to think he's OK when he makes these appearances, or to think that the disease is not progressing. Evidently the medication is actually quite powerful, especially when he's having a "good day" with the disease to begin with. That's why he can still act on a limited basis.

since they are releasing these again in 2015 but with actual power laces, wouldnt be surprised if those will be to the general public. probably still in a limited fashion but just be patient and ready to spend a lot....someone already said they are willing to spend 500 for them so see...there are some crazy fans out there after all. :P
of course everyone spending 5000+ on these right now will feel like morons in 2015 when they meet people who paid significantly less and theirs actually work. lol

..on some TV shows?
Additionally...$4500? Great Scott!
Additionally redux...No shipping to Canada? MJF is Canadian for F*CKS sake!
Still, I like kingoflight's idea of making it a raffle.
Bet they could have sold a million tickets on the internets for $10 each and made a ton more money.
A ton!
Silly auctions.
mt

Or those idiotic velcro shoes? I knew a guy in high school who wore those fucking things, proudly, without shame well into his 20's. Yes, he was laughed at constantly and with vigor.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but the Back to the Future flicks mean nothing to me and I grew up in the 80's.

IANA Accountant, but...
I believe it is indeed tax deductible, as long as MJF's charity is on the IRS list as a charity.
The thing is, you get the deduction but you can only deduct the amount that exceeds the fair market value for what you bought.
So this is where you have to go see an accountant because, you could say the fiar market value for a "pair of high quality Nike shoes" is something like $100 and maybe the IRS would accept that,
but since there's only 1500 of them to be made, and part of a popular culture memorabilia, it might be looked at as a collectors item and be considered more "rare" where as the FMV could be driven up to whatever the average selling price is.
So in that case you probably wouldn't be able to deduct much at all.